PM pledges £3bn of international climate finance for nature

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that the UK will commit at least £3 billion to climate change solutions that protect and restore nature and biodiversity over five years.

The funding will be allocated from the UK’s existing commitment of £11.6 billion for international climate finance and is intended to deliver transformational change in protecting global biodiversity-rich land and ocean, shifting to sustainable food production and supply, and supporting the livelihoods of the world’s poorest.

Programmes supported by the funding will include the flagship Blue Planet Fund for marine conservation; projects to maintain forests and tackle the illegal timber trade and deforestation; and initiatives to conserve habitats such as mangroves that protect communities from the impacts of climate change.

It was pleasing to hear the Prime Minister recognise the inextricable link between climate and nature:

We will not achieve our goals on climate change, sustainable development or preventing pandemics if we fail to take care of the natural world that provides us with the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe.